Chapter Text
One autumn Sunday afternoon, Ludwig stood in the bathroom, washing his face with cold water. He dried it with a towel, then tossed it carelessly over the edge of the bathtub and left the room. He slowly made his way to the bedroom, accompanied by his female German Shepherd, Engel. He stood in the doorway and watched Gilbert pack his clothes into a suitcase. It was lying on the bed, and next to it was an ironed suit.
-Shitty - Gilbert said to himself, pulling another T-shirt from the closet and examining it. He tossed it behind him and pulled out another, a dark blue one, without any graphic. - Better. - he added, running to the bed and folding it quickly, then throwing it into the suitcase.
-I see you're very happy about me leaving. - Ludwig said, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling.
-You know why I'm happy. - Gilbert replied, packing the last T-shirt into the suitcase.
-Speaking of the devil, he's still not here, and I have to leave soon.
-He'll make it.
Ludwig pulled out his phone and checked the time. He had less than ten minutes left to leave the house. He had another week-long trip ahead of him. The driver was supposed to pick him up from the store parking lot and had promised he wouldn't wait more than a few minutes, and if he was late, he'd have to find another ride.
-All packed!- said Gilbert, barely closing the suitcase.
Ludwig put his phone away and was about to speak when the doorbell rang. Gilbert jumped away from the suitcase and ran out of the room. Ludwig sighed, then walked over to the bed. He pulled down his suitcase and gathered his suit in his other hand, slowly making his way toward the exit.
Gilbert opened the door, where a panting Feliks stood.
-The damn bus was an hour late. - he said without a greeting, and stepped inside. He took off his backpack and tossed it carelessly against the wall.
-You’ll say hello on the way. Leash the dog, and let's go. - Ludwig said, passing them and leaving the apartment.
Gilbert grabbed the leash from the coat rack and clipped it to the dog's collar.
-And one more thing, the apartment has to be in exactly the same condition as it is now when I get back. - Ludwig said as they left the apartment, closing the door.
-Come on, you know you can trust us.
-I know, and it better stays that way.
They left the building and briskly walked toward their designated spot. Ludwig led the way, saying practically nothing as Feliks and Gilbert discussed their plans for the next week. Besides long walks with Engel and trips to the dog park, and if the weather was good, to the river, the main entertainment would be late-night movie marathons. They would lay comfortably on the sofa bed in the living room and watch movies from evening until around midnight. Most often, they watched horror movies, both solid classics that filled the room with genuine fear and cheap, cliché slasher movie that, while tacky, still managed to provide plenty of entertainment.
They finally reached the store's parking lot. The driver who was supposed to pick Ludwig up wasn't there yet, but he wasn't too worried, they were there ahead of time. They didn't have to wait long, the car pulled up five minutes later.
-Also. - Ludwig said. - I hope I won't have to explain the inappropriate noises to the neighbors when I get back.
-Well... That might be harder. - Gilbert said.
-We'll be good, I promise. - Feliks added, nudging Gilbert with his elbow.
Ludwig didn't reply, just smiled faintly, approaching the car, which had stopped. The driver got out and opened the trunk, where they placed the suitcase, then quickly drove away. As soon as the car left the parking lot and turned onto the road, Feliks and Gilbert headed for the store. Feliks stayed outside with Engel. He crouched down outside the store, and the dog sat down next to him, eagerly awaiting petting and scratching behind her ears. Gilbert, meanwhile, entered the store, grabbed three frozen pizzas, popcorn, two cartons of apple juice, and two four-packs of beer. At the checkout, he grabbed some chips on sale and, having paid, left the store.
On their way back, the weather started getting worse. Clouds completely obscured the sky, a chilly wind picked up, and to make matters worse, it soon began to rain. The initial drizzle quickly turned into a downpour, and they arrived at their apartment soaked and cold. Fortunately, it was warm inside, so they immediately changed. Evening was approaching, and they didn't plan on going out, except for one last night's walk with Engel, which Gilbert toweled off in the bathroom. Her fur dried quickly as she lay down under the radiator.
Feliks made popcorn in the kitchen, poured it into a large plastic bowl, brought it into the living room, and set it on the coffee table along with two glasses and a carton of juice. Two beers sat nearby, while Gilbert retracted the sofa bed so that the backrest faced the television. He brought a sheet, a duvet, and two pillows from the bedroom.
Everything was ready for a movie marathon, and they were already choosing a film when the sound of thunder reached their ears.
-Oh, great, it'll be atmospheric. - Gilbert said.
-As long as the power doesn't go out. - Feliks added, settling comfortably on the sofa. - So what are we watching tonight?
-I was thinking of “The Human Centipede” for a good start. I have the entire trilogy.
-Sounds good, but... Can we just watch the first two parts? I don't like the third. It's terribly drawn out, the main character pisses me off, and there's not much violence anyway.
-I don’t like it that much either. Just two parts are fine. And if there's time, we'll find something else.
They turned off the lights, settling comfortably on the sofa bed under the duvet, a bowl of popcorn was laying beside them and each had a can of beer in hand. They usually covered the windows to better experience the film's atmosphere, but this time they decided against it, the lightning that occasionally illuminated the room was atmospheric. Engel soon joined them, settling herself on the duvet at their feet. They’ve watched “The Human Centipede” multiple times, each time commenting on how stupid the main characters were and how easily they could have escaped the situation. The disgusting scenes no longer made much of an impression on them.
They weren’t paying that much attention to the films, they served more as background noise while they talked about everything and nothing.
After watching both films, they took a break to eat. The popcorn wasn't filling enough, so Gilbert got up from the sofa bed to make pizzas, making them all at once, as they weren't very large. They ate them while searching for another movie to watch. Nothing caught their eye, so instead of choosing something from the catalog, they flipped through channels until they found a horror movie.
The movie was 10 years old, so it wasn't old, but the budget must have been minimal. The acting was terrible, even laughable, the plot made no sense, and the cherry on the top was the CGI. It was so bad it was hard to believe the movie wasn't thirty years old. The movie was atrocious, there was no doubt about it, but it didn't bother them since they were both slightly drunk.
Gilbert woke up around four in the morning. He looked around the living room. The television was the only light in the room, a movie was playing in the background, they had clearly fallen asleep while watching it. He glanced at Feliks, who was sleeping with his back to him. Engel was in his arms, equally sound asleep. Gilbert smiled and gently stroked the dog's fur with his hand, then brushed the hair out of Feliks’ face when he heard the phone ring. He reached for the phone, which was lying on the coffee table.
-Did I wake you? -Ludwig asked.
-No, I'm just coming from the bathroom.
-I'm just calling to let you know I'm already at the hotel. I'm done, but I still have a long day to get through. How was your day? Did you sleep well?
-Yeah, and the house is still standing.
-I'm glad, any plans for today?
-We'll see, it must have been raining all night. - he said, looking out the window. It wasn't raining as hard as it had in the evening.
-The weather here is also not the nicest, but I won't bother you anymore, I have to get ready in an hour anyway. It's going to be a tough week. I probably won't even have time to call to see how things are going with you.
-I’m sooo envious.
-Okay, okay. Go back to sleep, enjoy it while you can.
Gilbert put the phone down, stretched, and glanced out the window again. The sky was brightening in the distance, but the storm was so far away that he couldn't even hear the thunder. He turned off the TV and went back to sleep.